This is called the “Naive Bayes” method, because it usually isn’t quite true, but pretending that it’s true can simplify the living daylights out of your calculations.
Hahaha! First thing on LessWrong to really make me laugh out loud :) Good stuff.
[Edit: That’s the laughter of agreement and approval of a fun writing style; I should be more explicit on the internet, given the pernicious amounts of sarcasm that gets tossed around.]
To the downvote, in case it wasn’t clear, I was laughing because I agree with the post, and because “simplify the living daylights out of your calculations” is just an awesome phrase. I laugh at things I agree with way more than things I don’t, because the former things actually make me happy. (And the latter kind of laughter, on the rare occasion that it happens, I keep to myself.)
But if the downvote was for irrelevance, fair enough. I wouldn’t mind being told that expressing appreciation of writing style alone is frowned upon.
Thanks for the background… I think for a compromise, I might just stick to expressing laughter when I happen to have something of content to say along with it :)
Hahaha! First thing on LessWrong to really make me laugh out loud :) Good stuff.
[Edit: That’s the laughter of agreement and approval of a fun writing style; I should be more explicit on the internet, given the pernicious amounts of sarcasm that gets tossed around.]
To the downvote, in case it wasn’t clear, I was laughing because I agree with the post, and because “simplify the living daylights out of your calculations” is just an awesome phrase. I laugh at things I agree with way more than things I don’t, because the former things actually make me happy. (And the latter kind of laughter, on the rare occasion that it happens, I keep to myself.)
But if the downvote was for irrelevance, fair enough. I wouldn’t mind being told that expressing appreciation of writing style alone is frowned upon.
It’s a matter of how it’s done. The more analytic and descriptive it is of what was good and how it worked, the better a reaction it’s likely to get.
I would guess that this was downvoted by someone misreading it as an attack, interpreting the laughing as considering it worth ridicule.
It is frowned upon by some people, but not by all—certainly not by me. See discussion here.
Thanks for the background… I think for a compromise, I might just stick to expressing laughter when I happen to have something of content to say along with it :)